The New ‘Captain Marvel’ Comic Book Origin Story May Shed Some Light On The Upcoming Movie

When Marvel Studios finally dropped the long-awaited first trailer for Captain Marvel in September, all anyone could talk about was punching old ladies and cat butts. All jokes aside, it seems Marvel Comics has made a big change to the character’s origin story in its Life of Captain Marvel series, leaving some to suspect that Carol Danvers’ (Brie Larson) origins in the new film may have been drastically altered.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest issue of Margaret Stohl, Carlos Pacheco, and Erica D’Urso’s series revealed that Danvers is a Kree-human hybrid named “Car-Ell.” While her father is human, her mother Marie Danvers is actually “Mari-Ell,” a member of the pink-skinned Kree race. Originally, Danvers gained her powers following her exposure to the Psyche-Magnetron, which exploded and merged her human DNA with that of the first Captain Marvel’s, the Kree known as Mar-Vell.

Danvers’ original origin, which occurred in Captain Marvel #18 (1969) and was later expanded in Ms. Marvel #1 (1977), has, as THR notes, “gone unchallenged for the past 40 years.” So while her new beginnings sound an awful lot like Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) in the two James Gunn Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which had actually changed his origins from the comics, it’s a nice change of pace for the character. Instead of an accident involving a male superhero, Danvers’ powers come from her mother — and herself.

As for whether Life of Captain Marvel‘s origin story change will affect, or reflect, the story of the upcoming Captain Marvel movie, the jury’s still out. As THR points out, however, “Marvel’s publishing arm has made other edits in its mythology to reflect what audiences have seen onscreen.” What’s more, in the first trailer for the movie, Larson’s Danvers tells Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) that her origins are “hard to explain.” She also says, albeit cryptically, “I keep having these memories. I see flashes. I think I have a life here, but I can’t tell if it’s real.” Either way, audiences will find out on March 8th, 2019.